


I ain't saying you ain't pretty

by Elizabeth (anghraine)



Series: The Edge of Darkness [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Asexual Character, Brother-Sister Relationships, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mother-Son Relationship, One Shot, The Talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-05
Packaged: 2018-12-25 23:44:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12046794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anghraine/pseuds/Elizabeth
Summary: Edge of Darkness!Noatak gets the Talk, care of Yakone and Sura.





	I ain't saying you ain't pretty

**Author's Note:**

> I don't honestly remember what was going on when I wrote it, just that I was trying to distract myself from... something. For some reason, "confused and probably ace Noatak gets horrifying (in different ways) sex talks" was what came to mind!

“Run along and help your mother with dinner. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Taraka’s fingers, locked behind her back, clenched into fists. She smiled and obeyed, only pausing once, after she’d passed Yakone, to cast an apologetic look over her shoulder. Then she hurried away.

“This girl,” Yakone said abruptly. “What did she know?”

“Nothing, as far as I could tell,” Noatak said.

His father scowled, clearly unsatisfied.

“She’d been asking people my name,” Noatak admitted. “She’s seen me around and watched me waterbending, I guess. I don’t know, we didn’t talk for very long.” Aggrieved, he added, “I  _told_ her to leave.”

“Your sister, too?”

“Yes. Taraka didn’t trust her.” He didn’t dare smile, but he glanced up expressively. “You might have noticed.”

Yakone grunted. “Might be some hope for her yet.”

“Taraka thought—” Noatak flushed, but soldiered on— “that, um, she might not have actually cared much about waterbending. Of any kind. Uh—”

“Possible,” said Yakone, and chuckled. His eyes stayed cold and shrewd. “A pretty girl, eh?”

“I didn’t notice,” Noatak said.

Yakone’s expression turned skeptical. “You didn’t notice? At your age?”

“She had big teeth,” said Noatak desperately. He could not possibly be having this conversation. Not with  _Yakone._

Yakone laughed again. It sounded a little more genuine this time. “I see. But you’re sixteen. It’s more than time for you to start thinking about girls. I’m sure someone’s caught your eye.”

Oh, spirits, he was scheming for grandchildren again, wasn’t he? Noatak swallowed. He’d hoped that Yakone never realized that it would be far easier for Noatak to provide them than Taraka. As long as he was good enough, he’d always be more useful in himself than in the blood he would pass on.

He abruptly felt more sympathy than usual for his sister. “Uh—”

Yakone, dropping a companionable arm around Noatak’s shoulders—he just managed not to flinch—led him towards the tent. The smell of his mother’s cooking had never been more appealing. “Now, tell me who’s the best-looking girl in the village, and I’ll see if we can’t arrange something.”

Part of Noatak’s brain coolly categorized the handful of girls he’d met. The other part quailed at the thought of strange girls touching him—and nobody could ever know him except his sister, so they would be strangers, all of them, always. And even worse than that was  _talking about it_ with  _Yakone._ Thankfully, both halves of his brain reached the same answer.

“Taraka,” he said, defiant and trying not to look it. Hurriedly, he added, “Maybe I’ll meet someone in Republic City.”

He never found out what his father would have said, because Taraka saved him again. In person, this time: she ducked out of the tent, her warm smile dimpling her cheeks and her blue eyes dancing.

“Mom’s kicked me out,” she announced. “Did one of you call me? I thought I heard my name.”

“No,” said Noatak quickly.

“Well, I think Mom might bludgeon me if I try to help her again, so I’m staying here anyway,” said Taraka. “I want to bend something—if that’s okay with you, Dad? We never practiced my shield, and I’ll probably need it more. Noatak’s faster than me.”

Yakone, still distracted, nodded.

Taraka dashed off to the old training area. Noatak, grateful for the escape, ran after her. He gladly launched slices of ice at her shield until their mother called them in for dinner.

* * *

The next day, Sura astonished both her children by sending Taraka off with Yakone. Noatak stared as his sister obeyed with hollow-eyed cheer, then he turned to his mother.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this for awhile, Noatak,” she said. “But it never seemed like the right time.”

He was frozen in his chair. Did she know about bloodbending? Despite his contempt for her blindness, there had at least been the small comfort that she  _would_ do something, if only she knew. If she had known—

“You’re at a difficult age,” she went on.

All right, not bloodbending. Maybe what’s-her-name, Zianka—she’d set all of this off, anyway. It was almost funny. Just a few days ago, he’d been hoping that everyone would just quietly forget about Zianka’s existence. Now, he could only hope that this latest interrogation was about her and not—anything else.

“You’ve always been such a quiet boy, I wasn’t sure when it would happen for you. But by now, you’ll have started to feel things that may seem strange and frightening to you, even wrong.”

Not always quiet, he thought resentfully, then caught up with the rest. Oh, spirits.

“Dad already talked to me about this,” said Noatak.

“I’m sure he did his best,” Sura said tactfully. “But there are things you need to know that he won’t be able to teach you.”

Noatak looked puzzled.

“Now, I want you to understand, Noatak, that what you’re feeling is  _not_ wrong. It’s perfectly natural.”

He blinked.

“Some mothers would tell you not to act on your feelings, but—” her eyes twinkled— “those are the mothers who end up with grandchildren before they’re expecting them. For many boys your age, and girls, too, the temptation is stronger than the risk. As I see it, as long as both of you freely choose and agree on what you do together, there’s nothing wrong with it. But I think we both understand that you’re not ready to be a father yet.”

Noatak choked. “No, I— _no.”_

“So, I think it’s important you know that there are several ways waterbending can keep a woman from conceiving.”

He just managed to keep back another garbled noise. Then the thought occurred to him that, apparently, there was something about waterbending he didn’t know. He hesitated, then said, “How?”

Forty minutes later, he regretted that he’d asked. Sura, always thorough, not only explained each technique, she discussed  _everything_ in detail, complete with illustrated scrolls and anatomically correct dummies. By then he was bright red and cringing.

“Do waterbending girls have to learn this?” he demanded, then looked at his mother and felt ridiculous.

“Of course,” she said. “It’s good for us to understand how our own bodies work, and plenty of us are married to non-benders, or in other parts of the world, to firebenders or earthbenders. But that’s not relevant for you. Taking responsibility for this is part of being a man and a waterbender. If you’re with a non-bender, you’re the only one who can deal with it. If you’re with another waterbender, it’s rude and lazy to make her do it, and if she’s a couple years younger than you, she might not even know how yet.”

Noatak looked at her doubtfully, then realized she was still waiting for him to respond. “Right,” he said.

“Good,” she said, smiling, then sighed. “Well, while I’m at it—why don’t you go send your sister in, Noatak?”

“Yes, ma'am,” said Noatak, and gladly fled.


End file.
